Israel sends thousands more troops into Lebanon as expanded ground offensive signalled

The Israeli military deployed thousands more troops in Lebanon and signalled an expanded ground offensive against Hizbullah as prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu called on the population to rise up against the Iran-backed group.
The Israel Defense Forces said on Tuesday it had sent a fourth combat division into the south of Lebanon, in an indication it may now have more than 20,000 troops in the country, a significant rise on the initial force that invaded last week.
The country’s military refuses to provide official figures on its force numbers but the divisions are not expected to be at their maximum estimated size of 10,000 apiece.
Warplanes also pummelled targets in Beirut, southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley.
Israeli strikes have killed more than 2,000 people over the past 12 months, according to the Lebanese health ministry, and forced 1.2 million from their homes, most during the last two weeks of intensified bombing across the country.
“Today Hizbullah is weaker than it’s been for many many years,” Mr Netanyahu said in what he described as a message to the Lebanese people on Tuesday. “It is your choice – you can now take back your country and return it to a path of peace and prosperity.”
“If you don’t, Hizbullah will continue to try and fight Israel from densely populated areas at your expense,” he added, urging his listeners to “save” their country “before it falls into an abyss of destruction and suffering like Gaza”.
In a defiant address earlier in the day, Hizbullah’s deputy chief Naim Qassem vowed the militant group would fight on and replace Hassan Nasrallah, its long-standing leader, who was killed by an Israeli strike last month.
“I would like to reassure you: our capabilities are intact,” Mr Qassem said, pointing to the Tehran-backed group’s attacks on Israel in recent days as evidence. “This is a war of who cries out first, and we will not.”
Mr Qassem said Hizbullah supported diplomatic efforts to broker a ceasefire, but throughout the past year, the group has repeatedly said it would only stop fighting Israel when a ceasefire was reached in Gaza.
On Tuesday, the militant group fired one of the largest rocket barrages of the past year at northern Israel despite the escalating ground and air offensive.
The Israeli military said 85 Hizbullah rockets had targeted Haifa and other outlying areas in a single salvo, followed by a second of some 20 projectiles.
Most were intercepted by air defences or fell in open areas, although one person was lightly injured by rocket shrapnel, according to Israeli authorities.
The IDF previously issued evacuation orders to more than two dozen villages in Lebanon’s southwest and gave “urgent warnings” in Arabic to beachgoers and boats along the Lebanese coast up to the Awali river, north of the city of Saida.
In a further move on Tuesday that indicated a possible expansion of military action, the IDF declared four villages next to the Lebanese border in north-western Israel as closed military zones.
Israel took similar steps in the eastern and central regions of its frontier with Lebanon over the past two weeks, before the launch of ground incursions.
About 60,000 Israelis living in the north have been forced to relocate because of Hizbullah projectiles. Mr Netanyahu has said the offensive against Lebanon is aimed at securing the border area to permit their return.
Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant said on Tuesday Israel had “probably” killed Hizbullah’s replacement leader Hashem Safieddine in a recent air strike in Beirut.
Mr Safieddine took over the leadership after the assassination, also by Israeli air strike, of Mr Nasrallah late last month.
Hizbullah initiated fire against Israel after the Hamas-led assault on southern Israel on October 7th last year in “solidarity” with the Gaza-based militants, raising fears of a wider regional conflict.
Those concerns have reached new heights after Iran bombarded Israel with about 180 missiles last week, leading Mr Netanyahu’s government to vow retaliation. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2024